Sea Turtles and Other Notes on Crawling

I'm at a bit of a crossroads with my blog, and I've been here before and found it just as frustrating. I like to take what's happening in my life and write little essays that tie pieces together, sometimes getting the general as well as the specific. But I also like to just jot down the day-to-day quirks and milestones of my daughters' lives, and I'm frankly not energetic enough to keep two records. So the way this works out is that in the first year or two, there are more blog entries that are just records of what the babies are up to, and fewer of the pieces of writing that I'm proud of. Because, while I prefer a more considered style of writing, it takes a bit more mental energy to turn milestones into enjoyable prose.

Today, Ada learned to crawl! She didn't take off like a shot, but she certainly moves a few feet at a time across the floor, grinning with pride or crying for her out-of-sight mama.

She also sat up all by herself for the first time today. I went in to pick her up out of her crib, where she'd been rolling and scooting around, and found her sitting, ready to be picked up.

She loves to wave now, whenever she sees someone she knows, or hears someone say, "Hi!" The even cuter part is that she does it backwards, opening and closing her palm toward herself. I think it's like she's so excited by her new skill that she doesn't want to miss a bit of it. My friend, Ada's "sponsor" (godmother by another name, I suppose) thinks she looks like Morpheus from The Matrix, saying, "Bring it." That too, I suppose. 7 days. 7 days until her husband leaves Iraq. Praying, praying.

Unfortunately, Ada is also dealing with some intense separation anxiety. And she's really past the age where I can easily take her with me wherever I go. I mean, of course I could take her along to my book club, haircut, birthday dinner date, marriage therapist, Sunday School class, etc. But I won't get nearly as much out of the events as I would if I weren't spending 90% of my energy entertaining the baby, who requires relatively little daytime sleep. I've learned that mama who goes out and does fulfilling things is a much better, happier mama. But Ada screams whenever I leave her, which leaves me with a dilemma: which of my friends do I trust enough to care for my baby but hate enough to put them through an hour or two of her screaming? Right now we're employing a rotating schedule, and hoping that Ada grows out of this phase soon.

We had a busy weekend. Saturday was the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, which we did not attend this year - something had to give! But on Friday night, we had friends over for dinner then drove into U City to pick up the light rail (two stops on the new line of the MetroLink) and take it to Forest Park for the Balloon Glow.

The next morning we went to the parade portion of the Kirkwood Greentree Festival, before heading home for the girls and Paul to nap. While they were snoozing, I went to the mall for lunch and shopping with girlfriends. After the family woke up and I got home, we headed back to the Greentree Festival, then did some shopping at Target. By bedtime, the girls were so over-stimulated that one or both of them were up every hour all night long.

Sunday morning was Sunday school and church, then brunch with friends, and in the evening we left Ada with a friend (see above) and took Ellie to see Finding Nemo on Ice, which she loved. $22 per ticket I could stomach. The costumes and special effects were good, as I would expect for a Disney show. But the souvenirs! Fortunately, Ellie was happy to drink in the experience, and didn't need a cheaply made, ugly plastic or plush takeaway to remember the experience. Silly flashing Nemo on a plastic stick? $20. Small plush baby sea turtle? $15. Sno-cone in plastic Nemo cup? $10. Ridiculous! And nearly every kid in the place had at least one souvenir.

I didn't even suggest a nap time today, for either girl. Ellie finished supper before the rest of us and asked to be excused. She headed into the front room to put her dolls to bed, and this is how we found her 10 minutes later: